I'm not so sure.. I think it was just saying that anybody who already has the Opera Channel doesn't have to purchase this one.. it is just easier to say it that way than to also say "and also those who got it in the 6month free window"

My assumption is that it'll only be the people who have never downloaded it in the first place that need to pay.. so nothing has changed (was Opera 1 the same price?)

No. The easy way of saying what you think would be "If you already have the first version of the browser, 2.0 is free."

What has been specifically stated is "If you paid for the first version of the browser, you donít have to pay for this one"

Nintendo can't tell the difference as far as we know. You either have a ticket for Oper or you don't. The system doesn't know whether you paid for it or got it for free.

What are you basing this off of? How do you know Nintendo can't tell the difference? The only for us to know is if such information came from Nintendo themselves, or potentially if you were to delete your freely gained web-browser and attempt to re-download it. If you get it for free... then maybe you have a point, if they ask for wii points well then Nintendo knows.

So if you have a free wii browser, delete it, try to re-download it, and let us know.

wii browser is great - particularly for youtube when you want to sit in the living room with friends instead of clustering around someone's desk. it's decently usable for lots of stuff, really... it just sucks for general surfing the net. a decent update, particularly with better video/audio streaming support would be fantastic.

Not to rain on anyone's parade, and I'm sure I won't as this message will be ignored like the previous voices of reason:

The information from Go-nintendo is translated from the German Gamereactor, most likely through babelfish. Arguing over the wording of this information is absolutely useless. People who downloaded the Wii Browser for free technically paid for the software and, much like the previous update (from beta to release version), will also get this for free.

Man, things must be going incredibly well for Nintendo if this is what we're trolling.

Phoenix is of course right, and I didn't expect them to run a full featured Flash on the Wii, but it still sucks that it doesn't run the latest Flash for devices yet.

Edit: The feature I'm most excited about, is tabs, and while some are going to complain that it's only six, you have to remember that the Wii has like 80 megs of RAM so six tabs is more than enough to some casual browsing.

This absolutely needs a recent version of Flash (9 at least), and to be honest, it should be free. I know Nintendo likes to make every cent they can, but since it was free to begin with (although for a much shorter time than they first promised), and I believe the one on the DSi is free, it sets a bad precedent to charge for this one. Especially if they plan on charging people who got it for free. And don't give me that "Nintendo has no way of knowing," just because their interface is sloppy doesn't mean they can't run a quick scan through transaction logs for valid "purchasers" while leaving the free downloaders out in the cold.

This absolutely needs a recent version of Flash (9 at least), and to be honest, it should be free. I know Nintendo likes to make every cent they can, but since it was free to begin with (although for a much shorter time than they first promised), and I believe the one on the DSi is free, it sets a bad precedent to charge for this one. Especially if they plan on charging people who got it for free. And don't give me that "Nintendo has no way of knowing," just because their interface is sloppy doesn't mean they can't run a quick scan through transaction logs for valid "purchasers" while leaving the free downloaders out in the cold.

You talking to the dudes that are charging for a wii speak channel....

This absolutely needs a recent version of Flash (9 at least), and to be honest, it should be free. I know Nintendo likes to make every cent they can, but since it was free to begin with (although for a much shorter time than they first promised), and I believe the one on the DSi is free, it sets a bad precedent to charge for this one. Especially if they plan on charging people who got it for free. And don't give me that "Nintendo has no way of knowing," just because their interface is sloppy doesn't mean they can't run a quick scan through transaction logs for valid "purchasers" while leaving the free downloaders out in the cold.

Opera was available free for exactly how long they said it would be: 6 months. DSi is slightly different though in that it is important to the system as both a selling feature and enhances the network capabilities by allowing you to view registration and other default web pages on private (especially pay-for) networks. Without it you couldn't connect to them directly.

Also, Nintendo's download system does not easily allow for what you are proposing since it isn't designed that way. Doing those sorts of backward checks would be a lot of trouble and therefore highly unlikely.

Originally Posted by later

You talking to the dudes that are charging for a wii speak channel....

Wiispeak buyers get it for free and people without Wiispeak... well it's kinda useless to them now isn't it?

The render of nintendo.com is done by Firefox. Take a look at the search box in the upper right, on the site. On the current Internet Channel, the "What are you looking for?" text fits inside the box neatly, while on Firefox it sits nearly across the bottom edge of said box. This is happening in the "screenshot".

The buttons are ridiculous. The real Internet Channel has a much more pleasant, muted aesthetic going on. The creator of this "screenshot" went wild with his contrast, not to mention making them twice as tall for no good reason. I've never seen tall buttons on any Nintendo offering.

While we're talking about the buttons, they are one hell of a lot more in-focus than the browser render in the background. The real Internet Channel doesn't have this problem, why would this one? Maybe because it's Photoshopped?

And the cube, well... I don't have any substantive complaints about the cube, other than the fact that it looks bad and is blocking a substantial portion of the viewing area. I'm not even sure tab-equivalents make sense on a TV-based browser. And if they did, why not just actual tabs?

The whole thing screams fake to me. I'd like to be proven wrong, though hopefully if I am proven wrong, any update would retain the simple sensibilities the current Channel has, and look nothing like this thing.

Or maybe it's just GR speculating on what they'd like a new Internet Channel to be?

I agree that the Internet Channel is by far the most useful channel of all. every other channel is a waste of time in comparison and just a useless novelty. the internet channel is almost as good as the entire internet. the only limits of the internet channel, and thus, how much of the internet can be used, is how much capability the browser has.

This absolutely needs a recent version of Flash (9 at least), and to be honest, it should be free. I know Nintendo likes to make every cent they can, but since it was free to begin with (although for a much shorter time than they first promised), and I believe the one on the DSi is free, it sets a bad precedent to charge for this one. Especially if they plan on charging people who got it for free. And don't give me that "Nintendo has no way of knowing," just because their interface is sloppy doesn't mean they can't run a quick scan through transaction logs for valid "purchasers" while leaving the free downloaders out in the cold.

The more I think about it, the more I think this is impossible. Nintendo have actively touted the idea of cleaning the fridge and being able to get back anything you've downloaded in the past. If they were going to charge for the new version, they would have to at least make the old version available for free to those who had it and deleted it, or it would completely undermine the fridge-cleaning idea. And I just can't see Nintendo having both the old and new version available on the shop channelóit's just not their style.

Well, my opinion has been beaten into the ground, but I still think it's foolish to assume that Nintendo doesn't have some way of tracking purchases, even if their interface is currently pretty stupid about it.

I can't believe there are people still holding their breath for this thing, seriously.

I will be literally blown away if there is any update of this scale out this month... let alone ever.

My money's on the GR article, if it actually existed in the first place, being a "hey here's what we'd like to see from a new Internet Channel, wouldn't it be great to have it in December on the anniversary of the original one?" type of thing rather than actual news. Unless someone's got some actual evidence to the contrary?